BERHAMPUR: Orissa government has turned down Andhra Pradesh's request to share more water from Balimela reservoir in Malkangiri district to tackle drought situation faced by the neighbouring state due to scanty rainfall.
"Their request for drawing excess water from the reservoir has been rejected as the water level of Balimela is not good," Engineer-in-chief of Water Resources Department, H C Behera said.
However, Orissa government would release about 4000 cusecs water to the neighbouring state till February 12, a senior engineer said.
A team of engineers from Andhra Pradesh had requested the Chief Construction Engineer, Balimela, recently to release about 10,000 million cusecs of water from the reservoir to help farmers in the state to deal with the crisis.
As per the agreement signed between Orissa and Andhra Pradesh in 1973-74, both the states would share water from Balimela reservoir in equal proportion.
The dam was built to store the water of the inter-state flowing rivers - Sileru and Machhakund.
The cost of maintenance of the reservoir would also be borne equally by both states. Similarly the staff position of the project was also divided in equal manner as per the inter-state water sharing agreement between the two states.
Engineers of Orissa said there was no controversy between the two states over Balimela reservoir despite the rejection of Andhra Pradesh's request to draw excess water.